Wedding Crasher
by Irhaboggles
Summary: Standing in the hidden corner at the back of the chapel, Elphaba watches Glinda's wedding. She comes to support Glinda, but Oz knows she wishes she could be the one waiting at the altar as opposed to the one hiding in the shadows.


A tall, thin figure all cloaked in black hid at the back of the Emerald City Wedding Chapel, observing everything and saying nothing. That figure was, if anybody could've seen through all the blackness, a green-skinned woman. It was Elphaba Thropp. She was at this wedding because it belonged to the girl, yes _girl_, that she loved. Glinda. Sadly, though, she was not the one at the altar. She was a wedding crasher. The lucky one standing at the altar was a tubby old man named Sir Chuffrey. It took all of Elphaba's self-control not to blast him to bits for stealing away the girl she loved, and it took even more for her not to vomit, seeing how Chuffrey was old enough to be Glinda's father. Perhaps it was standard practice for the rich elite to marry off their women to men decades older than them, but that didn't make it any more appealing to Elphaba.

The longer Elphaba had to stand there, hiding in the shadows of the back of the chapel, looking up at Chuffrey's portly figure, the angrier and angrier she became. He wasn't just serving as a reminder of the fact that Glinda was just minutes away from being married off, he was also a reminder that Elphaba's hopes and dreams of ever marrying Glinda had been nothing but that: hopes and dreams. Even from the start, theirs had been a doomed love. Chuffrey's mere existence was nothing but another nail in that coffin. And he seemed to be the final one.

"Fat old fart!" Elphaba muttered crossly as she tucked herself deeper into that far corner of the chapel. In all honesty, Chuffrey was not too terrible of a person. He wasn't even that bad-looking. But of course, through the envious eyes of Elphaba, he was no better than a common toad, or a sewer rat. She was repulsed by him. So that raised the question of why Elphaba was here at all. If she despised the groom and if even seeing the bride would make her go all weepy, why didn't she just go home?

Well, as much pain as this wedding was going to cause her, she still wanted to be there because it was Glinda's. Even if the two hadn't even seen each other in years, Elphaba still wished to be there for this monumental day. Whether it was out of an old affection or a small sense of propriety or one last ditch effort at pretending she was the one standing at the altar was anybody's guess. All Elphaba knew was that as painful as this wedding was going to be, she still wanted to be there for it. She wanted to be there for Glinda. It was like her way of metaphorically walking Glinda down the aisle, if she was unable to be the one waiting at the altar.

The sound of music filled the chapel and the big wooden doors swung open to reveal the most gorgeous sight anyone inside that chapel had ever seen. In walked a petite young woman, hair of gold and eyes of sapphires. Her skin was creamy, silky, soft and practically glowing. The dress she wore was white and silver, pearls and other bits of precious metal adorning the long, flowing white skirt. Without even meaning to, as the beautiful young bride sashayed gracefully down the aisle, her father on her arm, Elphaba began to tear up. Part of it was from how stunned she was at the raw beauty radiating off of every square inch of Glinda's body, and part of it was from grief as the sight of Glinda in a wedding dress reminded her of everything that she had ever wanted and would now never ever be able to have. A surge of envy rushed through Elphaba's veins. She hoped Chuffrey knew how lucky he was. Just when she thought Glinda couldn't get any more gorgeous, that wedding dress had to happen!

The next few moments were pure torture as the priest read the long, drawn-out preamble to the exchange of vows and rings.

"I do," Chuffrey said at last. Elphaba's upper lip stiffened.

"I do," Glinda repeated. Elphaba's upper lip quivered.

"Then," the priest said as he turned to Chuffrey. "You may now kiss the bride."

The entire chapel exploded into cheers of bliss and sheer, wild ecstasy as Glinda and Chuffrey locked lips. Elphaba looked away in disgust, envy and bitterness, swallowing hard. After about 10 seconds, everyone was in tears. But while most of those tears were of joy, Elphaba's were of grief. Somehow, it seemed, watching Glinda had caused Elphaba to fall just a little bit more in love with her, as if such a thing was possible. But now, Glinda was officially married, and Elphaba's very last hope for them had just been shattered.

"Argh!" Elphaba hissed at last, wiping away the burning tears and turning to go. The ceremony was over, she'd had enough of this torture. It was time to go back home, where she could mourn in safety and privacy. She didn't look back even once as she slid out of the chapel. It was a good thing, too, because if she had, she would've seen Glinda smiling, and that would've broken her heart even more...

A month later, Elphaba ran into another ghost of her past. This time, it was someone she'd only been friends with. It was Fiyero Tigelaar. They crossed paths accidentally when Elphaba had left her secret hideout to grab a few supplies. Fiyero managed to catch sight of her in the crowd and he wasted no time in following after her. When he appeared on Elphaba's doorstep, however, he was nearly kicked right back out.

"Go away! I don't accept visitors! I don't know who you are!" she snarled at him through a crack in her door, but Fiyero was persistent and, at last, Elphaba surrendered and welcomed him inside. It wasn't just because of his persistence, though, it was because of Elphaba's own loneliness. Although Glinda's wedding had been a month ago now, it was still like a fresh wound to her and she desperately needed someone to come in and distract her from it. And who better than someone else who had called Glinda a friend? Fiyero was the closest to Glinda that Elphaba had left, so she let him in at last, her desire for company overriding her desire to be left alone.

"How is Glinda?" Elphaba asked Fiyero one night. The two had been seeing each other for a few weeks and although he was no Glinda, he was close enough. He would do. Not like there was anyone/thing better out there for her. So she was forced to be satisfied with him.

"I see her sometimes," the tribal prince admitted. "But it's not enough to actually get the chance to speak with her."

"Hmmm," Elphaba replied. Fiyero heard the obvious note of disappointment in her voice and, in a weak effort to impress her, he quickly thought up the most recent thing he'd learned about the beautiful young blond.

"I heard she married some baronet," he said. But instead of impressing Elphaba, this only earned him another scoff. He thought it was only because Elphaba had always laughed at Glinda's petty dreams to be married to a rich and powerful man. Little did he know that it was her way of trying to mask the fresh wave of pain his little remark had brought over her.

"Only a baronet?" she demanded hollowly. "Not a regular baron, or a viscount at least?"

"No," Fiyero answered apologetically, though he knew Elphaba wasn't really asking.

"What a shame. Her earlier promises were never to pan out then," the green girl said. Her remark was meant as a joke, but was stiff and unfunny.

A couple more months later and Elphaba was having her own wedding. This time, it was with Fiyero. She didn't exactly want to marry him, per se, but she had grown somewhat fond of him in all their time together and she knew that marrying him would be the only way that he would be willing to stay with her. He insisted that they get married properly, or he would go home to his palace in the west. Elphaba agreed to the terms immediately and a date was set up not long after. Seriously, though, Fiyero was not a bad guy by any stretch of the imagination, and Elphaba was totally fine with the idea of marrying him, there was just no special spark there like there had been with Glinda.

"Bah!" Elphaba shook her head the moment she thought about her precious little blond. It had been how many months now and she was still pining about that wedding? She was a fool! It was time to move on! Maybe in her dreams, she had been the groom of the wedding, but now she was the bride. It was high time she started acting like one!

When the wedding began, Elphaba found herself entering into an abandoned warehouse. She was pretty sure that half of the people there were random street junkies and drug dealers and prostitutes. But because this was the best she could afford at the moment, this was what they were going with. Fiyero didn't seem to mind. Sure, it wasn't the most normal of weddings, but so long as he was getting to call the girl he loved his wife, he didn't mind if they had just gotten married in the nearby junkyard!

But even though the wedding was very trashy and seedy, there was still a strange little charm about it and Elphaba actually really enjoyed it. The only other person who was equally as ecstatic was Fiyero himself, though he did look very out of place, being dressed up in a nice suit and tie while everyone else around him was in rags, or whatever was dumped into the clothing bins outside of local churches. Elphaba almost wanted to laugh at him just because of how "Glinda" it was of him to come to a trashy wedding dressed like he was going to get married in a castle.

Elphaba flinched visibly as she realized that, once again, she was thinking about Glinda.

"Come on, Thropp! Get a grip!" she whispered to herself as she continued to walk down the "aisle" (really just an old carpet someone had set out for her). But it was too late, and Elphaba's face drooped a little bit. The figure waiting for her at the "altar" (which was really only an old desk) was not a beautiful young blond in a dress, but a handsome and well-trimmed lad in a suit. While he was definitely not unattractive, Elphaba would've given up anything and everything in the world in order for him to be swapped out with Glinda.

"You may kiss the bride!" their "priest" (whom Elphaba was sure was no more than a common thief claiming to have authority) announced after Elphaba and Fiyero exchanged vows and rings (which were the only real things in that wedding, though Fiyero had intentionally, and carefully, masked them so that, at least for the course of the wedding, they looked like little more than cheap plastic toys. It wouldn't exactly do well for him and Elphaba to be mugged during their wedding, now would it?)

"WOO HOO!" a rowdy cheer filled the old warehouse as all sorts of street hustlers celebrated the newlyweds. Or rather, the booze that they had promised to supply if they could have this little mock wedding. Now that the ceremony was done, Fiyero made good on his word and supplied the entire warehouse with any sort of alcoholic drink they could imagine. It was paradise! And well worth the otherwise dingy service. There was only one person in that entire warehouse that looked less than pleased with the drinks, and who looked like the service had been anything but worth the wait. That one person was Glinda. Glinda _Chuffrey_. Now _she _was the wedding crasher.

"Oh! Elphie!" the little blond whimpered from her place right beside the door of the warehouse. For once, she was not decked out in any sort of finery at all. Instead, she had exchanged all her frills, dresses and gems for the ratty old clothes of a common street-walker, and she had blended in so well with all the others that Elphaba had been able to walk right past her, their faces mere inches apart, without even realizing it. It had been like a knife in Glinda's chest to watch Elphaba walk right on by without even recognizing her, but that was nothing compared to the agony of having to watch her kiss and marry Fiyero.

"Oh! Elphie!" Glinda repeated, weeping softly. "I hope you're happy!" she wiped her tears as she watched Elphaba and Fiyero share a dance. They really did look so beautiful together, two brilliant stars among a foggy, smoggy sky. They deserved each other. Glinda had to put a hand to her mouth to keep from sobbing. After so very long, Glinda had finally been reunited with the green girl, but it had happened in one of the worst ways possible: at a wedding in which she was not the one waiting at the altar. Because although Glinda had always sort of known that her relationship with Elphaba would've never lasted, to see Elphaba marrying off was still a huge blow to the sweet little blond and she could only cry as Elphaba and Fiyero kissed one another again and again as they danced.

"At least she's happy," Glinda tried to tell herself, but there were tears in her eyes as she said this. After Elphaba had left her, and told her to hold out, Glinda had thought that maybe Elphaba meant that she would try and come back someday, but she never did. It had stung Glinda to realize that Elphaba had never planned to come back for her at all, despite begging her to stay strong. It felt almost like a betrayal. And then when Glinda learned that she was to be married off to one Sir Chuffrey, she had not gone down without a fight. Kind and gentle and polite and sweet as Chuffrey was, he was not Glinda's type, and Glinda could never find it within her heart to see him as anything other than a friend at best.

Then, when Glinda found herself unable to weasel out of the marriage, she intentionally wore a dress that she thought Elphaba would've liked, and she had a picture of Elphaba tucked inside of her dress so that, through the entire thing, even though she was marrying Sir Chuffrey, she was able to envision herself marrying Elphaba instead. But that last little illusion had been crushed now that she was watching Elphaba call Fiyero a husband. She hadn't even meant to walk in on this! She had just been trying to see if anyone might've known Elphaba and she saw so many people headed to the warehouse on the far side of town that she figured it was just a common meetup place. Never would she have ever guessed that, just for today, it had been turned into a little wedding chapel. And she certainly wouldn't have ever guessed that the wedding would've been for Prince Fiyero, and the green girl that she loved.

But crazy as it sounded, it was real. And Glinda's silly little dream of walking down a secret aisle to wed the one she truly loved had just been crushed once and for all... She fled the warehouse without another sound and not a single person inside even noticed. She ran straight back to her room in the Emerald City Palace and broke down into tears the moment she managed to leap into bed. Glinda fell into an uneasy rest that night, mind swirling with the thoughts and longing of the girl whose wedding she had crashed that day. Little did she know that the girl in question, Elphaba, was thinking and feeling the exact same way.

**AN: Inspired by the scene in the book where Elphaba learns from Fiyero that Glinda is married. We never really get to know how Elphaba truly feels about this, so consider this an AU and an exploration of that. And consider this the headcanon that Book!Elphaba only hooks up with Book!Fiyero because she misses Glinda. Fiyero is nothing more than a vessel for her sexual frustrations. (Sorry to Fiyeraba fans).**


End file.
